California Pintos baseball played the Tipton Cardinals for the second time Friday at California High School.
Before the game, California hosted their senior night and recognized their three seniors: pitcher and first baseman Hunter Berendzen, pitcher and left fielder Martin Kilmer, and catcher Ian Peterson.
The game was scoreless going into the top of the fourth inning. Tipton hit back-to-back singles with one out to put runners on first and second base. Tipton left fielder Charlie Miller stepped up to the plate and hit a ground ball that went under the glove of California's second baseman for an error and scored the runner from third base.
In the top of the fifth, Tipton got another break when first baseman Samuel Duke hit a ground ball towards second base where another run was scored on an error. Tipton scored two more runs in the fifth on a bases-loaded walk and a bases-loaded hit by pitch on back-to-back at-bats.
Tipton pitcher Brenden Morse allowed just three hits, and Tipton emerged with a 4-0 win over California.
California's three hits in the game were a single from catcher Brayden Hallford in the third, a single from third baseman Will Edwards in the fourth and a double from pitcher/left fielder Martin Kilmer. California committed five errors in the game.
California pitcher Martin Kilmer pitched 4.2 innings and allowed four runs on five hits with six strikeouts.
Martin Kilmer and Will Edwards each batted 1-3.
California Head Coach Steven Stock said the Pintos hurt themselves throughout the game with their lack of adjustments on offense and the five errors California committed led to two of Tipton's four runs.
"When you don't score any runs, you don't beat anybody. Give them all the credit because their defense was really good and their pitcher threw it really well. They did just enough to win and we may have helped them a little bit, but the bottom line is we didn't help ourselves," Stock said. "We didn't got to the plate and make any adjustments against their pitching. When you do that consistently for seven innings, usually success doesn't happen.
The Pintos are now 13-9 and will end their regular season Thursday at Russellville.
Catcher Brayden Hallford hits a single to third base in the third inning against the Tipton Cardinals.(Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)
Pitcher/left fielder Martin Kilmer hits a line drive double to left field in the seventh inning. (Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)
Colin Althoff pitched the seventh inning for California against Tipton. (Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)
Pitcher Colin Althoff catches a pop-up for an out in the seventh inning. (Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)